Eye of the Tigers

Our July meeting featured an informative presentation and slide show by Mr. Pedro Chan who expounded on the history and influence of WWII Flying Tigers and his experiences collecting memorabilia for US and Chinese museums.

"Flying Tigers" is the name for The American Volunteer Groups, China Air Task Force and the Fourteenth Army Air Force. All three were under the command of General Claire Lee Chennault to aid China against the invading Japanese.

The July meeting had the best attendance in many years, with 71 people. Thanks to Steve Sappington and Nancy Schunke for arranging this program. If you have any ideas for a future program, please contact Steve or Nancy.

Meeting and Greeting

Our June Meet and Greet was a resounding success, with our Membership Director Anne O'Brien signing up several new members. A large group of current DAFers were there to say greet them and introduce themselves. We went through all the burgers and hot dogs we had, running out at the end in an example of perfect timing. Great job, Anne!

Turn of the Centuries

For the June program we went back to the early 1950's and learned about the era and the challenges building and flying the USAFs first supersonic fighter, the North American F-100 Super Sabre. We watched an informative documentary followed by commentary and Q&A by our fellow DAFer and veteran F-100 pilot Fritz Probst who shared some of his exhilarating, frightening and funny experiences flying this historically significant and controversial aircraft. Thanks Fritz for supplying the film and sharing your experiences with us all!

The Tau of Taos

For the 19 DAFers (10 airplanes) that made the trip to Taos NM, the weekend offered some big challenges. The weekend started early for 15 of the DAFers with a stop in Sedona on Thursday night. The Sedona contingent was greeted on arrival with crosswinds varying from 15 to 40 or so knots. One crew made the wise choice and landed in Cottonwood (windy but more aligned with the runway) and drove the final miles in the "classic" airport car. The author was last to arrive at Sedona and did not get to witness any of the previous arrivals. The descriptions of landings continued to get more fantastic as Thursday evening progressed and this will likely continue at future happy hours.

Friday morning arrived with new and different weather challenges. For the Sedona group, the flight to Taos was split between IFR and VFR operations with all crews making the flight relatively uneventfully. For the crews that left Torrance on Friday, the task was much more challenging. One crew flew the mission VFR under the clouds following a somewhat circuitous routing and arrived successfully. Another crew stopped in Phoenix for lunch and to review their Cirrus flight manual to confirm that they were approved for known icing and thunderstorm penetration. Upon failing to find such approval, they wisely decided that Torrance was not a bad place to be.

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Eye in the Sky

The June program featured Photographer Dan Wolfe, who shared some of his amazing aerial photoraphy and videos. We enjoyed learning how his team uses their unique aerial camera system (Gyron) for aerial photography. Dan, along with Jesse, one of his Wolfe Air Aviation Photographers, added color to the challenges of filming while flying (e.g. how not to get air sick while looking at a small screen in a wildly maneuvering aircraft) and the choreograhpic art of capturing those amazing images between tow or more aircraft, the landscape and the light.  More photos here.

Grin and Bear It

The May fly-in was a lunch trip to Thelma's Restaurant, near Big Bear Airport. The overcast skies kept some folks away, but 11 DAFers in 5 aircraft make the flight and had an excellent lunch. Most filed IFR, but it was a workable VFR flight as well. The weather at Big Bear was beautiful, with clear skies and warm temperatures. More pictures here.